The Perils and Perks of Privilege

College, College, College!!!

As a senior in high school, college readiness is constantly being thrown in my face, and because of this college never stops coming up. This week, my AP English teacher had us organize our college portfolios, making the topic as incessant as ever. Throughout the week, I overheard a lot of interesting questions and comments, and I felt like sharing a couple of them on this blog:

"I'm supposed to write an "adversity essay" for _____University, but nothing bad has ever happened to me. It's really unfortunate to be a middle class white girl."

"Like, I get why minorities get all the scholarships, but it's still really unfair."

"My parents make too much money for me to get financial aide. It sucks."

Initially, I was a little annoyed by these statements, especially since I knew for a fact that all of these 'quotees' were fairly well off, but, after mulling it over for a while, I thought back to the name of the privilege workshop Project Humanities held this summer: The Perils and Perks of Privilege. When we hear the word privilege, the first, and usually only, thing we think about are the perks. By having privilege, we avoid a multitude of conflicts in our life, be it  depression, discrimination, financial instability ect. ect, we all dodge some kind of bullet in some way. But what about the perils? How does our privilege put us at a loss? 

Here's a hint: It has nothing to do with scholarships. 

The greatest disadvantage our privilege causes us is a lack of understanding for others. So many times, we simply focus on the  problems that occur within the context of our own privilege. "Yes, I have had an incredibly easy life, but  I have little life experience because of it." "Yes, I am middle class, but I'm afraid of student loans too." And it's perfectly normal and acceptable to think like this; however, when one acknowledges the perils of their own privilege without acknowledging other's disadvantages, it marginalizes specific groups of society. This is clearly seen through my classmates' quotes. This marginalization causes these groups of people to be neglected, which is bad in of itself. However, if this mentality goes untreated, it can evolve into prejudice, which can not only cause minorities (and I'm not just talking about racial or cultural minorities here) to be neglected, but create obstacles towards breaking through any disadvantages that come with being a part of their minority. 

How can prevent this from happening? 

Embracing the diversity in society is one thing, and it is a good thing, but we could be doing so much more. Try looking at the people around you, and then yourself, and then try to think of all the ways that your privilege makes you a part of the problem. Are there any privileges that you have that blind you from understanding the suffering of others? Then, go beyond bias. Think of ways to be a part of the solution. This is a responsibility of all of us, not just those new to privilege. We can't change the fact that we're all different, but we can change how these differences impact each other's lives. All men were not created the same, but they were created equal, and its time that the community demonstrates this.